REEEC New Directions Lecture: Mara Hunter, The Sea of Azov in Historical Percpective
- Sponsor
- REEEC
- Speaker
- Mara Hunter: Professor of History, University of South Alabama
- Cost
- Free and open to the public.
- Contact
- REEEC
- reec@illinois.edu
- Originating Calendar
- Russian, E. European & Eurasian Center: Speakers
The Sea of Azov in Historical Perspective
Borrowing from environmental history theories that emphasize the agency of the earth in human affairs, as well as human impacts on the natural environment, this talk examines the Sea of Azov in broad historical perspective. The Sea of Azov has featured in world historical trade networks from antiquity to the present. It has linked Eurasian religions and cultures, peoples and trade, for more than two millennia. Humans have remade the sea and its hinterlands with infrastructure, and have waged tragic wars for domination. However, the current war and the Crimean Bridge introduce a new level of destructive transformation. Placing the current violence in the Sea of Azov against the history of human efforts to control it raises important and recurring questions about transnational access to critical natural waterways as well as our collective responsibility to the natural environment.
Mara Hunter
Professor of History, University of South Alabama